KAS | The Itinerant Football Watcher

Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging were formed in 1924 from a merger between Union Sint-Truiden and FC Goldstar. Upon acceptance to the Royal Belgian FA they were assigned matricule number 373.

After humble beginnings, their first game against Cercle Tongeren attracted just nine spectators and realising gate receipts of 13.50 Belgian francs, STVV made steady progress becoming one of the strongest teams in the province of Limburg. They moved into the first incarnation of Stayen in 1927 but this version of their current ground was completely destroyed during bombing raids in 1944.

The club’s star player in the inter war years was Léopold “Pol” Appeltants who scored goals at a prodigious rate. Appeltants, at the age of just 16, scored 50 of STVV’s 93 goals in the 1938/39 season. St Truiden were elevated to the national second division for the first time in 1948 and Appeltants became the first St Truiden player to be capped by Belgium. He was the second divisions leading scorer in 1949/50 with 23 goals. In 20 years with St Truiden Appeltants played over 500 games for the Canaries.

After years of gradual progress, the club finally reached the top division of Belgian football for the 1958/59 season and managed to stay in the division finishing just ahead of relegated Tournai and Tilleur. The arrival of then unheralded young coach Raymond Goethals in 1959 sparked a purple patch in the clubs history culminating in 1965/66 when the Canaries finished runners up to Anderlecht to achieve their highest ever league placing. The stadium became known as “Hel van Stayen” (Hell of Stayen) as opposing teams could rarely win there.

In more recent years St.Truiden have won the Second Division in 1987, 1994, 2009 and 2015, an indication of their yo-yo existence between the top two tiers. Up until 2017 the club was owned by controversial businessman Roland Duchâtelet, who also owned Charlton Athletic until recently, and still owns Carl Zeiss Jena and Újpesti Dózsa. He sold St.Truiden to Japanese e-commerce company DMM, so home games are now attended by several hundred Japanese supporters.

Stayen was completely renovated in 2011 and now holds 14,600 spectators. It boasts a 77 room hotel, 20 of which overlook the pitch. Tonight’s game against AS Eupen would normally have cost a minimum of €20 but by sheer good luck as we queued for tickets we were offered the use for free of two VIP season tickets which, as well as padded seats, also included free food after the game! Standard VIP entry to the game was €80!

The game was one of breathless entertainment, the away side took the lead before a quite brilliant hat-trick from Ghanaian midfielder Samuel Asamoah. The spoilsport referee was less impressed, however, and when the celebrations for his third goal died down the petty official was waiting with a second yellow card as Asamoah had pulled his shirt up behind his head to reveal a message on his t-shirt underneath.

STVV